Braided eye for sling



Nov. 20, 1951 J, PETERSON 2,575,974

BRAIDED EYE FOR SLING Filed Feb. 2'7, 1946 INVEN OR Wain/r fmQso/v ATT Patented Nov. 20,1951

-asiae'm BRAID EDEYE FOR SLING Vincent' Ci J 4 Peterson, Fo'rty FortfPa.;'assignor Bridgeport, Conn.,,=a corporation of New York Application February 27, 1946, Serial No. 650,682

31Claims.

This invention relates to slings, and more particula'rly to the methodof'forming eyes'inthe ends thereof.

5 Slings of wire rope or *cables are--often*fabri- -"cated "by braiding-because of the flexibilityof i such construction. Formation of-' an eye-inthe end ofa braided structure--is difficult, and the formation of such aneye without introducing weakness into the slm'g requires considerable'skill andjudgment. Furthermore, it -is desirable* to form an eye which does notcause an'ystiffness in the body of the sling-adjacent thereto;as such stiifness interferes withthe use of the sling in a so called choker hitch.

lIt is-thereforeanrzobject of thepresent invention to xorovicle an eye andmetnod for-making it which do not introduce weakness into the struc- "ture.

"It is a -further-object of {the present invention to provide a method of form-ing an-eye i-n'a* braided structure which-can be readily practiced.

It is a furthero'bject ofthe present invention to provide a braided eye fora braided'sling which does not depend upon supplementaryfastening means to carry the load.

It is a further object of this invention to provideabraided eye on a braided slingwithout "necessity "for splicingtogetherfany off the indi- J" vidu'al partscom'prising the"sl ing' ibody.

Fig. its a viewshowing 'part'of thebraided body of a sling ready for formation of an eye thereon;

Fig. 1a is an enlarged View of a section of Fig. 1, showing the disposition of the parts making up the braid;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing the first step in the formation of an eye;

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 show respectively the second, third, and fourth steps; and

Fig. 6 shows a completed eye.

As can be seen from the figures, the body of the sling is braided of a number of parts. For the purpose of illustration the braid shown is an eight part braid, in the form of a braid of four pairs of parts. In Fig. 1a, the individual parts have been numbered I to 8, to facilitate tracing of the course of the parts. The structure of the braid may be visualized as pair I, 2 and pair 3, 4 formed into a rope of four parts, the lay of the rope being to the right. Pair 5, 6 is laid in a rope with pair 1, 8, the lay being left in hand. These two ropes are intertwined, thus producing the braid shown. It is to be understood that any "of parts, and designated f-A for 'the part inthe left hand group, "B for the 1 part inthe Tight hand grou form of T braid "'can* be utilized, and the braid e y for the purposes or illustration.

Referring now to-Figs-. 1' and 2 to 6;the-meth6d of forming the eye is set forth. Aftertheforhim tion- Ofthe bodybraid, the parts "areseparatefd into twogroups containing an equal number' of parts. "The separated groups should be long *enough to form the I complete eye,- andexthd down the sides of the-body braid for-a little distance.

The next step is to form a braid for a little less than half true length of each of -"the -groups; as shown in Fig. 2. This braid'is shown as 'bing in every respect identical-to'the braid of the ma "with the exception that itis made of four parts, rather than of four pairs of parts. The braid should have about thesame" pitch as the-body -braid;to*give a uniform appearance'to the'braid upon completion. Apart is'shad'ed in l ig'. 2= and succeeding figures, extending through -eac'h=group "After theseparate braidshave been made-"arid j tied temporarily"with-seizings 9, they ar'brougiit together and interlaced asshown*in*1=ig. -3. in order that there be* no discontinuity at the meeting point after the eye is completed; it is-prfe'rother. "It will be noted that both these-parts spiral around in the braid in-a' right hand directi-on. Similarlyyeach part in theleft hand braid is adjacent a part in the right hand braid which corresponds to it.

As a next step, one of the groups is interwoven with the other. In Fig. 4, the part B is interwoven into the braid of the left hand group in such a manner that it is associated with part A exactly as parts 3 and 4 (Fig. 1a). If all of the parts of the right hand group are similarly paired with parts of the left hand braid, a braid will be produced which is identical in appearance with the braid of the body.

The process is repeated on the right side 0 the eye, resulting in the structure shown in Fig. 5. It will be noted that the parts A and B are paired together entirely around the eye, the parts ending in opposite sides of the eye. The same is true for all other parts, each one being paired with a part which starts from the opposite side of the eye. The temporary seizings are removed as soon as is convenient in the process of interweaving, and, as can be seen from Fig. 5, there is no joint present at any point around the eye.

contribute any strength to the eye, or keep itfrom slipping. That service is performed by the method of braiding.

The description is, for the purpose of illustration, directed to a type ofbraid involving paired parts. Theoretically, paired parts, with ach part.

Of a pair starting from the opposite side of the eye from the corresponding part, should result in a braid which is of greatest eificiency, as slipping would result in adjacent parts moving past each other. Thus, the maximum frictional holding power is developed. However, it is not necessary that the braid be made in this fashion, as many types of braid develop sufficient friction be- ;tween the parts to permit utilization in the manner described. Further, the shown form involves the same type of braid for both the body and the eye. Such is not necessary. For instance,

.the body may be made of fiat braid, for flexibility,

while the eye may be made of round braid, to fit the hook better.

Furthermore, although the simplicity of the above described braided eye has much to recommend it, it is possible to fabricate an eye by simply dividing the parts into two groups, and interweaving them to form the desired braid.

Such an eye requires only that the parts be divided into two groups, and the braided eye can then be formed with the parts from one group passing around the parts of the other group in proper relation to form the braid. It is of course to be understood that the paths taken by the parts of one group should be so related to the paths taken by the parts of the other group that there is. suflicient opportunity for frictional resistance between parts of opposite groups to hold the eye together and permit approximately equal stress in each part.

There are braids of an odd number of parts which are well adapted to use in a sling body,

becau seof their shape or flexibility character- .istics. ;bc.used, but. it is to be understood that the eye The above method of forming an eye can 4 will have a lower strength, and accordingly will not support all the load which the sling body is capable of sustaining. However, such construction is often desirable, and the advantages there'- of may outweigh the increase in weight.

It will therefore be seen that the above description is intended to be illustrative, and not limitative, and that many variations in both the structure and the method of manufacture may be practised without departure from the scope of this invention, which is best apprehended by reference to the appended claims.

I claim:

1 In a slingof an even number of parts, an eye formed of said parts, half of said parts extending from the body of the sling around the eye in one direction, the remaining parts extending from the body of the Sling around the eye in the opposite direction, each of the parts being paired with a part extending around the eye in an opposite direction, the pairs so formed being braided-to form a braid of pairs throughout at least a portion of the eye.

2. The method of forming an eye for a multipart sling comprising separating the parts of the sling into two equal groups, braiding the parts of each group together for a portion of the length of the parts in the group leaving the extremities unbraided, and interbraiding the unbraided portion of each part of each group into the braided portion of the other group.

3. The method of forming an eye for a multipart sling comprising separating the parts of the sling into two equal groups, braiding the parts of each group together for a portion of the length of the parts in the group leaving the extremities unbraided, and passing the unbraided portion of each part of each group through the braidedportion of the other group adjacent a part thereof to form a braid of pairs.

VINCENT ,C. J. PETERSON.

. REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the Peterson Jan. 21, 

